It's a beautiful morning in the forest. And Mochi is still asleep.

  With the deep design of the den, no light reaches the 'bedroom'. Combined with the insulating warmth of her 'bed' and Nikola, and Mochi has no reason to wake up yet.

  Nikola is different. Thanks to his high level, the prime wolf requires very little sleep. He can even go weeks without proper sleep (assuming proper food and mana intake). Though, his time with Mochi has certainly impacted his sleeping schedule. He should've been awake three hour ago!

  First things first, and probably the most challenging thing Nikola does everyday. Get up from the bed without waking Mochi. Luckily, Mochi went to sleep first last night, which meant she isn't leaning against him. With careful navigating and half a roll, he manages to escape the bed.

  He then begins his morning inspection of the den. He knows Mochi will do one as well anyways, but if he can find problems earlier it'd make things easier. And plus, he has superior eyesight in the darkness, just a lot less experience.

  Once he completes the inspection, he then goes out to hunt and fulfill his responsibilities as the prime wolf. Whether it's ordering wolves around to prevent any internal conflicts, fight those attempting to take his title (despite titles not working like that), or patrolling his territory.

  For the most part, these responsibilities don't take much time to complete. Once he is done, Nikola returns to Mochi's den and plays Fieldom by himself. By this point, he's confident he can always win, or at least force a tie. Motivated, he calls over that spider.

  This time, Nikola does a lot better. He manages to survive three turns before losing, compared to two last time. A significant increase of 50%! Believing himself one step closer to victory, he challenges the spider again... except the spider ignores him and goes back to their hole.

  Nikola sulks off to the side for a moment, before returning to the makeshift board to reflect on the game and how he can improve. Someday, he will beat that spider. He just needs to figure out how.

  As the sun passes noon outside, Mochi finally wakes up. She lets out an annoyed whine upon seeing Nikola focusing on the Fieldom board, before checking on the angel beard lichen. It's stable and slowly growing. Maybe adding some additional plant matter will help though.

  And now, it's time for breakfast. Mochi peaks out of the entrance, checking to see if there's anything nearby. Confirming the lack of anything notable, she hops out, followed by a large shadow below her. The two begin wandering around, as Mochi contemplates on what to eat for breakfast.

  At some point, the two pass by a blueberry bush. As a shadow stretches out and wraps around the bush, Nikola lets out a whine of despair, as there are no more blueberries. He dashes off to check on the other known blueberry bushes, hoping that at least some remain.

  Mochi doesn't realize that she's left by herself. She simply wanders around, eventually running into a pumpkin! Although quite small, compared to the smaller Mochi it'll be more than enough to feed her. The only problem is breaking it open.

  She turns around and lets out a sharp bark, attempting to get Nikola to break open the pumpkin for her. However, there's no response. Glancing around a bit, she lets out a disappointed sigh. It appears that she will have to handle this her own way...

  Pom finishes cleaning up lunch in complete silence. Today was dandelion stew with a bit of mice, a simple recipe she learned from Tochan the cat-lady. Of course, Pom had to ask around for mice to cook, as she's not that great at making traps.

  The taste is a bit dull for Pom though. It lacks a certain sweetness. She contemplates using some nectar, but chooses not to this time around. It takes too long to generate, so spending it on a simple stew was inefficient.

  With lunch over, Pom decides she'll spend today practicing. Someday, she wants to be as great of a hunter as Dorlin. She wants to be strong enough to protect him and the village, so that what happened to her hive doesn't happen again. And deep down, hidden behind the desire to protect, is an ember seeking revenge.

  Pom skips over to the drawer and takes out a rolled up piece of wax. She made it last time she practiced her racial skill. She sticks it to the wall, and draws three circles. A target, like the ones in those pictures.

  She steps back to the opposite wall, and takes a deep breath. First she peels a layer of wax from her arms and twist them into a rod. Then, she unwinds a thin strand of silk from the fur on her neck. Tying the silk to each end of the rod, she twists it until taunt. Three more strands of silk are tied in the same way, then spun together to be slightly stronger.

  From the garbage basket, Pom takes out an old arrow. It's head had broken off, but the body is still in one piece. Good enough for practice.

  She hooks the arrow onto the makeshift bow's string. It sticks just enough to not fall off. Drawing the bow back, Pom takes aim. Breathe in, shoulder stiff, back straight. Breathe out, lock elbow, relax wrist.

  Fire

  The silk string snaps forward, flinging the arrow ahead rapidly. It cuts across the room, sticking into the wax target. The bow cracks, as part of the bowstring unravels from a loss of tension. Pom was lucky it didn't explode on her. She's already making plans to improve the next design. But first, she walks over to the target and checks how accurate her first shot was.

  Just barely in the second circle. For a child with no prior training, it is an amazing achievement. But unfortunately, that is all she can practice for today. She doubts the bow will survive, much less fire a second shot. And it'll take time to regrow the used wax and silk.

  And so, recycling the bow, she spends the rest of the day practicing her wax forming skills.

  Nikola returns to Mochi with a severe lack of blueberries. He shouldn't have been so surprised, considering how it's already nearing winter. And yet, he can't help but feel disappointed.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Mochi, on the other hand, is currently gorging on a small sweet pumpkin. It had taken quite the effort to break it open, using the power of gravity and a rock, but the uniquely hearty and sweet taste was a worth reward. Of course, she gives a sarcastic greeting to the now-returned Nikola.

  There is a momentary silence as Mochi eats the pumpkin. Nikola is tempted to ask for his own pumpkin, but feels too awkward and shy to ask, especially after he ran off without telling Mochi. He cautiously wonders if she's mad about it, but still doesn't say anything.

  Mochi sighs from within the pumpkin. She knows Nikola enough that she can tell from his periodic glances that he wants some pumpkin as well. Climbing out of the pumpkin, she pushes it to Nikola, letting him have the rest. Though, considering how small it is, it'll only be a snack for him.

  Sure enough, he finishes it with a single bite. Taking a moment to contemplate the taste, Nikola lets out a satisfied huff.

  With breakfast done, Mochi starts her daily wandering, only to be immediately stopped by Nikola. Winter was approaching, and she was still far too bad at hunting to be self-sustainable. At best, she'll just barely catch enough for herself. At worst, Nikola will deliver disappointed scraps.

  And so, seeing as she has consistently gotten distracted, Nikola shall be responsible and force Mochi to practice. He carries her to a clearing in the forest with flowers; there is almost always prey here, and so will provide plenty of opportunities for Mochi's practice.

  Mochi complains silently. She considers running, but knows it's useless, especially with how easy he can catch and carry her. So, reluctantly, Mochi attempts to hunt.

  First attempt was a squirrel. Mochi tried getting close, but was too hasty and made too much noise when moving, causing the squirrel to run away.

  Second attempt was a vole. While sneaking, it kept on moving around, until eventually it stopped right in front of Mochi. She pounced towards it, but overshot and flipped off course, missing the vole. Nikola pretends not to have seen what happened. Mochi appreciates the gesture.

  Third attempt was a big bunny. It appeared to be leading a few other bunnies, but this meant it got distracted often. Moving closer only on those opportunities, she sneaks right behind the bunny. And then Nikola smells something wrong. He smells something burnt.

  Mochi pounces, landing directly onto the bunny. She refrains from biting, as this was mostly for practice though. Losing targets would just make it harder later.

  And then the grass around them explode.

  Nikola is momentarily stunned. His first instinct is to run, avoiding any potential follow-up. His instinct is overwritten by concern, Mochi was right in the middle of the explosion. Did something happen to her? The concern melts towards rage.

  And then from the smoke, steps out a very annoyed fox, holding a panicking bunny. As Nikola huffs in relief, Mochi considers what to do with the troublesome bunny. She definitely won't eat it, as it smells and tastes like burnt grass. But letting them go unpunished would be too generous.

  It certainly didn't help that Mochi was incredibly bad at being cruel. She didn't want to hurt the bunny either. After thinking about it for a while, Mochi uses the prolonged capture time as an excuse and lets the bunny go, much to Nikola's dissatisfaction.

  As the bunny runs away from what it assumes are two extremely strong monsters, Nikola uses 'analysis' to try and figure out what the explosion was in the first place.

  Seems it's a newly-evolved one. While he's never seen this particular evolution before, he doubts it'll be a problem for him. And clearly, it also doesn't affect Mochi either. And so, Nikola holds minimal concern for the boom bunny, his previous anger already pacified by Mochi.

  ...of course, this doesn't mean she's excused from practice. Nikola catches her as she is about to run away, and this time brings her to the river.

  Mochi spends the next few hours practicing under Nikola's supervision. "Who knew they'd be so strict~"

  A cart carrying hay lies unwatched on the edge of the city of Hormstid. The owner, an agricultural trader, laughs along in the tavern nearby, making new friends and connections. Every so often, a guard patrols past the cart, but pays little attention to it. Inspection of goods takes place at the gates, and so there shouldn't be anything wrong with the hay.

  At least, that is how it normally works. Inspections are primarily done to prevent anything unwanted from being smuggled into the city. But there's very little need to prevent something from leaving the city. Sure, sometimes a thief steals something valuable, but then you'd use tracking skills to locate either the thief, or the stolen object, rather than doubly inspect everything that leaves the city.

  So when a little something climbs into the hay cart unseen, and takes a little nap, and becomes nearly invisible and silent? No one will ever know, nor will they even bother to check. And so on the next morning, when the trader drives their cart of hay past the city's gates, no one notices anything strange.

  The cart is driven across the roads, through several villages, towns, and cities. Sometimes hay is dropped off, sometimes more is added. But every time, no one even senses the presence of a hidden passenger.

  And eventually, the cart stops by Panace. A small village, right in the middle of three natural barriers against expansion. The desert to the south, wide and deep. Mountains to the east, frozen and jagged. And the blighted forest, where the recent disaster occured.

  It is here, when the trader is busy talking about rumors of foxes and wolves and strange lights, that the passenger sneaks off. It slinks past houses, through shadows, into the grass. It leaves the borders of the village, down past the guardian stone, and right into the trees.

  The creature smells something upon entering the forest. Something that makes it cautious. Something at the apex. Level 100. A faint smile cracks on the creature's face, as it realizes that that damned bird has finally done it.

  Its smile fades though, as it fails to detect her. Is she asleep again? How unfortunate, they wanted to talk with her. But then again, that isn't their main goal this trip. No, they're here for something so much more interesting. And now, they also don't have to worry about being sneaky either.

  As the illusory field breaks away, a young... person fixes their hair. For a moment, their face flickers, swapping through a dozen different guises. A beautiful man, a grizzled soldier, a scarred woman, an innocent girl, a proud boy, a terrible thief, until finally it stops on the face of a Belmthene.

  Stepping forward, they pass through the forest, instincts on full alert. They try to locate their target, but countless skills fail to track it. Instead, it only draws the attention of a snake. With a scowl, a bolt of blue flames cut out from her back, slicing the snake apart. The illusion on her back shatters, revealing a dozen different tails of powerful beasts. They quickly cover it with another illusion.

  In the blighted forest, it is always better to play it safe. It only takes a single mistake. The hunter of all beasts understands this the best.

  "I am spider. I like hiding. Fur is very good hiding spot. Very simple request."

  "No, do not even dare crawl on me."

  "Why not? You let fox on you."

  "Fox earned it. You have not."

  "Okay. I make offer. If I win, you let me on."

  "...what will I get if I win?"

  ...it didn't matter, as the spider won anyways.